HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!
After looking back yesterday to remember those who are no longer with us in yesterday's post below this one, now we look ahead to see what the future might hold in the coming months of 2013.
*United States President Barack Obama will be sworn in to serve a second term later this month, and in time he will have a new Secretary of State, for Hillary Clinton said she would be stepping down this month regardless of who won the November election, and this was before news of the blood clot in her brain became public knowledge. Don't worry, the doctors expect her to make a full recovery.
*Meanwhile, Congress got their act together long enough before the New Year's Eve deadline to avoid having the country go over the dreaded fiscal cliff. There is still a long way to go before America is safely away from the edge and heading back down the mountain, but at least it's a step in the right direction.
*Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, Rwanda, and South Korea all join the United Nations' Security Council this month, while Croatia is scheduled to join the European Union July 1.
*Australia is scheduled to join the United States in pulling its troops out of Afghanistan this year.
*And there is a LOT happening in outer space this year! China is scheduled to launch an unmanned moon probe. NASA plans to launch new probes that will eventually explore Mars and Venus, and India will launch the Mangalyaan probe to explore Mars this November. Please note that with the travel distances involved, it will be at least 2014 before most probes reach their destinations.
*For those into speculative fiction, 2013 is the year that the Uncanny X-men are/were supposed to experience the dystopian, anti-mutant
Days of Future Past, a 1980 Marvel Comics story line, and the plot for the mutants next movie.
*Meanwhile, the Free Choice E-zine will soon be making its 1000th post on Blogger, while breaking both 24,000 AND 25,000 page views this year! PLUS: How many times might our readership help us break 1000, let alone 2000 monthly page views this year? Unfortunately, all records from our previous website host were lost when the company went out of business, so sadly we do not have an accurate record of our overall career stats.
AND OF COURSE THERE ARE PLENTY OF ANNIVERSARIES THAT OCCUR THIS YEAR!
INCLUDING:
225 YEARS AGO in 1788...
*Georgia became the fourth member of the United States of America January 2, Connecticut became the fifth state January 9, Massachusetts the sixth state February 6, Maryland the seventh state April 28, South Carolina the eighth state May 23, New Hampshire became the ninth state on June 21 while Virginia became the tenth June 25th, New York became the eleventh state July 26. Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey first formed the union in December 1787, and the rest did not join until after the American Revolution.
210 YEARS AGO in 1803...
*Ohio became the seventeenth member of the United States on March 1 of that year.
195 YEARS AGO in 1818...
*Illinois becomes the 21st member of the United States on December 3.
165 YEARS AGO in 1848...
*Wisconsin became the 30th United States member on May 29.
155 YEARS AGO in 1858...
*Minnesota became the 32nd state May 11th.
150 YEARS AGO in 1863...
*The Emancipation Proclamation became law January 1, officially ending slavery in the United States.
*West Virginia gained its independence and became the 35th member of the United States June 20th.
125 YEARS AGO in 1888...
*George Eastman patented a roll film box camera under the Kodak name.
105 YEARS AGO in 1903...
*The
Mutt and Jeff comic strip first appeared.
85 YEARS AGO in 1928...
*Minerva "Minnie" Mouse and her beau Mickey Mouse first appeared in the theatrical short
Plane Crazy on May 15th. July 29th saw the couple star in the first talking cartoon:
Steamboat Willie.
80 YEARS AGO in 1933...
*
The Lone Ranger debuted on the radio January 30th.
*
Blondie Boopadoop married Dagwood Bumstead in the February 17th installment of that long running comic strip.
*The very first movie featuring
King Kong was released in theaters March 2.
75 YEARS AGO in 1938...
*
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs made its theatrical debut February 4.
*
Donald's Nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie made their theatrical short debut April 15.
*Superman debuts in the first issue of
Action Comics. The issue is dated June 1938, but could have been released up to three months before the cover date to have maximum shelf exposure on the newstands.
70 YEARS AGO in 1943...
*Donald Duck's only Oscar winning cartoon
Der Furher's Face hit theaters January 1.
*Droopy debuted in the Tex Avery directed theatrical short
Dumb Hounded March 20.
*The character affectionately known as Red first appeared in the Tex Avery directed
Red Hot Riding Hood May 8.
65 YEARS AGO in 1948...
*Churchy La Femme first sang "Deck Us All With Boston Charlie" in the December 22 installment of the
Pogo comic strip by Walt Kelly.
60 YEARS AGO in 1953...
*Speedy Gonzales made his theatrical short debut in
Cat-tails For Two.
*Then President Harry S. Truman addresses the nation in the first coast-to-coast live television broadcast.
50 YEARS AGO in 1963...
*Don Martin celebrated the first National Gorilla Suit Day within the pages of
Mad magazine, but the event didn't truly become a national phenomenon until 1976.
*The original
Outer Limits television series debuted September 16th.
*
My Favorite Martian debuted on September 29.
*United States President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22. The next day saw the premiere of the long running BBC series
Doctor Who.
45 YEARS AGO in 1968...
*
2001: A Space Odyssey made its theatrical debut April 6.
*Two of our Editor-In-Chief's childhood favorites debuted:
The Banana Splits on September 7, and
The Archies on September 14.
*The original
Hawaii 5-0 debuted on September 26.
*
The Little Drummer Boy Christmas special first debuted on December 19.
40 YEARS AGO in 1973...
*The animated version of
Star Trek debuted, continuing the original five year mission of Captain Kirk and crew on September 8, exactly seven years after the original TV series started.
35 YEARS AGO in 1978...
*Odie made his first appearance in the
Garfield comic strip of August 8.
*
Mork and Mindy, Robin Williams' only TV series (to date) debuted September 14.
*The original
Battlestar Galactica debuted on September 17.
*First
Superman movie starring Christopher Reeve debuted on December 15.
30 YEARS AGO in 1983...
*The much anticipated
Star Wars, Episode 6: Return of the Jedi debuted in theaters May 25th.
25 YEARS AGO in 1988...
*The
Fox Trot comic strip began on April 20.
*
Mystery Science Theater 3000 first aired November 24.
20 YEARS AGO in 1993...
*
Star Trek: Deep Space 9 debuted in syndication January 3.
*
Babylon 5 made its syndicated debut February 22.
*
Animaniacs debuted September 13.